Huckleberries Online

Mansfield: Tiger Lost In The Woods

Posted by DFO

Dec. 3, 2009 5:30 p.m. • 17 comments

Here’s the odd thing for me: Celebrities make their careers by living life “out loud”. They hire PR firms to advance their name, talent, position or political connections. Face-time on network television is a “must”. Magazine covers are needed and wanted. Being seen … is everything. So, when life takes a tumble, why is it that their lives suddenly become “private” and policeman are turned away at their doors, with legal questions about their actions being set aside — as if they live in a different world?/Dennis Mansfield. More here.

Question: Does a celebrity like Tiger Woods have a right to claim bad episodes in his life are private matters when he doesn’t mind living life “out loud” at most other times?

17 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

hmoffsuite on December 03 at 5:56 p.m.
That, DFO, is a very good question.
Cindy_H on December 03 at 6:34 p.m.
Of course.
His golf game is the world’s business.
His marriage is not.
JamesBond on December 03 at 8:07 p.m.
I just don’t care about TIger Woods.
spokelooneh on December 03 at 8:10 p.m.
“JamesBond on December 03 at 8:07 p.m.

I just don’t care about TIger Woods.”

Ditto.
misc on December 03 at 9:18 p.m.
As far as celebrities go, Woods always struck me as a recluse. But then again, I’m not a golf fan so what do I know?
Phaedrus on December 03 at 9:41 p.m.
Is the war in Iraq over? Afghanistan? Is unemployment below 10%? Do all Americans have health care?

Never mind.
JeanieSpokane on December 03 at 10:10 p.m.
Phaedrus, So appropriate! I’m sick. I’m unemployed. I have a war going on in my head about health care, insurance, cobra, medicare, not being covered by one because I have the other, but both only pay 80% and where o where do I get the 20% from - maybe Tiger would take up my cause. You know - deflect the camera’s view to his gracious charity called Jeanie.
JeanieSpokane on December 03 at 10:13 p.m.
… and I just checked the Yahoo headlines and the new health care bill is going ahead … . . with Medicare cuts included. Now I REALLY don’t care about Tiger Woods.
IdahoDad on December 03 at 10:24 p.m.
Don’t worry, all this interest in Tiger Woods will fade away and the American people can turn their attention to the things that truly and deeply matter to them, like the January premiere of the new season of American Idol.
zelda on December 03 at 11:24 p.m.
Yes, Jeanne, there is no sense of proportion anymore. I wish you the best with your job situation and your recovery. I think about you and apologize for not posting sooner to wish you well.

Tiger Woods is famous because he is a phenomenal golfer and seemed like an all-around nice guy which is why he got multi-million-dollar endorsement deals. Talent + nice-guy image = Nike and Gillette $$$. Strip away the facade and suddenly GQ and SI don’t want to the run the ads, an expensive marketing campaign dissolves and the Tiger Woods brand is worth a lot less.

TV viewership of the big tourneys dropped >40% when Tiger was out because of knee surgery and the business of golf was already in serious financial decline. Tiger’s a commodity. He doesn’t even have a marriage — he has a conjugal contract.

People are interested in Tiger’s scandal because it’s easier to comprehend than B of A paying back TARP to escape the CEO pay caps. No one would take the CEO job unless he could make more money than God. Now he can.
spokelooneh on December 03 at 11:26 p.m.
It’s not cuts to Medicare, it’s reductions in the completely unsustainable GROWTH in Medicare spending.

We spend $50 BILLION dollars a year and growing on people’s last two months of life, most are terminally ill and get no improved health outcomes or quality of life whatsover, often the opposite.

But hey, that’s $50B in doctors and hospitals coffers, so that must be a great thing, right? Sure, let’s order a pap smear for a 85 year old dying of emphysema, that makes sense.
spokelooneh on December 03 at 11:31 p.m.
“He doesn’t even have a marriage — he has a conjugal contract. “
-Zelda

LMAO!
hhuseland on December 03 at 11:33 p.m.
Perhaps it is because those that don’t have lives of their own tend to vicariously live those that are in the star category. The flagrant invasion of the press int o a simple screw up while backing a car, seems to happen over and over across the nation. Why, the hell , do we have a weird notion that this of of interest to us. That his picture and articles are pasted across the nation is due to his amazing golf talents, not his hollywood persona. Folks, get over it.
Escapee on December 04 at 2:07 a.m.
Tiger Woods is what he is. We all have skeletons in the closet. I’m sure he’ll continue to make more money in each tournament win than a lot of folks earn in several lifetimes. I really have never cared about him one way or the other. Bring back Jack Nicklaus! Now THERE was a champion.
moscow_minidoka on December 04 at 7:56 a.m.
“Yes, Jeanne, there is no sense of proportion anymore. ”

Take a look at Hollywood magazines from the Great Depression. This is nothing new, folks. Heard of Fatty Arbuckle? Google him…

This American celebrity-watching is as old as Hollywood itself, if not older. It’s escapism. Perhaps it’s in our faces now more than ever because of the obnoxious 24 hr news cycle, but don’t pretend like this is some SHOCKING new development that signals the End of Oour Society as We Know It. The only thing more true than the maxim that Americans Are Interested in Celebrities is that Americans Have No Sense of Historical Perspective.

As I said elsewhere, I believe “the incident” is a private matter and it doesn’t change my feelings about Tiger Woods at all - I’ve always found him an interesting person, but it’s not something that really impacts my life.
HonestGeorge on December 04 at 10:53 a.m.
“Cheetah Woods”
Cabbage Boy on December 04 at 10:58 a.m.
HMO, it is a good question. Dennis and DFO have a point. And I still don’t care about Eldridge Woods.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.